---
id: "prereq-ai-stack-layers"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶7"]
tags: ["technical-literacy"]
related: ["concept-vertically-integrated-ai"]
reason: "Necessary to grasp the strategic difference between the decentralized Western stack and the vertically integrated Chinese stack."
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-savvy-companies-are-using-chinese-ai"
source_title: "How Savvy Companies Are Using Chinese AI"
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-123-using-chinese-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-savvy-companies-are-using-chinese-ai"
sourceTitle: "How Savvy Companies Are Using Chinese AI"
---
# Knowledge of the Generative AI Tech Stack

**Prerequisite knowledge:** the source assumes familiarity with the **three layers of the gen-AI stack**:
1. **Infrastructure** — storage and chips.
2. **Intelligence** — the LLMs / models.
3. **Output** — the applications.

**Why it matters:** this layered model is what makes the decentralized-vs-integrated contrast legible. The Western stack disaggregates these layers across vendors (e.g., OpenAI + Microsoft Azure + Nvidia); the Chinese approach fuses them ([[concept-vertically-integrated-ai]]). Understanding the layers is a precondition for reasoning about where cost, control, and compliance advantages actually come from.